


Redemption

by JT_Sins



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Crossover, F/M, I guess I'll add more tags as I go along, Jack is younger, Lost Girl references, Slow Burn, sort of a crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 22:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10649247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JT_Sins/pseuds/JT_Sins
Summary: Natalie wants revenge on the one who tricked her into her eternal hell, Jack wants redemption for the pain and grief that he caused. Maybe they could help each other out.





	1. Prologue

“Are you sure about this, Vy?”

At the mention of her birth name, Natalie growled at the blue woman standing across the table from her, “You know I hate that name.”

“You told me that if something were serious enough, you’d let me use it. You’re giving up your humanity and it’s too late to go back now. You’re friends and family already think you’re dead. You even got to attend your own funeral.”

She raised at eyebrow at her, “Why are you even asking me if I’m sure if there’s no going back?”

“Because I’m just checking to see if you still want to do this,” a sultry French accent retorted.

Nat sighed and looked up at the ceiling of the old, abandoned house that they were currently in. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, thinking of all the moments that happened up to this point. All she ever wanted was to go out and have an adventure before her life was confined behind a desk, she didn’t think that she would end up throwing away her life to be one of the Fair Folk. She didn’t even think it was possible, nor did she believe in them until recently. She especially didn’t expect to meet one of them while she was out in a bar with her friends. She still almost believed that all of this was a dream.

“Before I do this, I have one question for you.”

The tall woman in front of her looked annoyed, her eyes flashing with impatience, “What is it?”

“There’s more out there, right, Amelie? More opportunities for adventure than if I was still human,” Her voice sounded scared but hopeful. 

Amelie walked up to Natalie, and placed her hand on her cheek, “Of course, mon amie.” 

She flashed a smile to Nat, assuring her that this was going to be a good thing for her than being stuck at a dead end job for the rest of her life. Nat took a moment to take in her answer and slowly nodded with a smile of her own. “I’m ready.”

Amelie laughed and produced a simple golden bangle, “Put this on and you will be transformed.”

Nat gently took the bangle from Amelie’s hand, turning it over in her hands to take a closer look at it. It looked so simple, it was hard to believe that this little piece of jewelry can turn someone into a fay. This was it...this was going to be her ticket out of this small town without selling her soul to some corporate machine...in exchange for her humanity. She held her breath as she slid the bangle on her left wrist and closed her eyes, bracing herself for a mountain of pain, only to feel..nothing.

She opened her eyes and looked at the bangle. She still felt the same, nothing as dramatic as she was expecting. As she opened her mouth to speak to Amelie, the pain hit her. She felt a searing pain spread from her wrist to the rest of her body. She tried to scream but nothing came out, just air. She looked to Amelie with a look of panic, but she just stood there watching her. 

Amelie smirked and touched Nat’s forehead. Her cool skin was soothing to Nat, the pain slowly subsided. Nat keeled over, panting, trying to catch her breath. Her vision was slowly getting spotty and she felt her body fall over. Before she hit the floor, she passed out.


	2. Chapter 1

Jack sat at the bar of a crowded club. The only place that didn’t turn him down on account of how drunk he already was. He had visited several other bars that didn’t even let him get near the door before managing to stumble into this club. He hated the atmosphere of this place. He hated the flashing lights, the sweaty bodies gyrating on the dance floor, the women who attempted to flirt with him. How could they not see that he was only there to drink away his pain? What did they find in him anyway?

Maybe they think I’m rich because I’m older. He laughed at the thought. Maybe in another world, he could have been a rich, old man who went to clubs to pick up younger women out of his league. He’d be in way less pain that he was now, maybe everything wouldn’t have gone wrong either if he had just gone into law like his parents wanted him too. Maybe then, his parents would be proud of him for once. “Maybe”...that word has been plaguing his thoughts for awhile now. Maybe this, maybe that. He was sick of it. 

He looked a mess. His graying, blonde hair was tousled from the rain and his suit was a mess. The jacket was long gone, the tie just hung from his neck and the shirt was missing a few buttons from a bar fight he had gotten into when he bumped into some musclehead. Not to mention the scars that ran from the left of his forehead over to his right cheek. He had another smaller scar that ran from his left cheek to his chin.

He hissed in pain as he sipped his whiskey, the cut on his lip getting agitated. The musclehead managed to get a few hits in before Jack’s military training kicked in and he turned the fight around. Not that it bothered him too much at this point, the scars on his face proved that he had been through worse. He wondered why the musclehead even bothered trying to fight him at all, he obviously had an advantage, no matter how drunk he was.

No matter how much he drank, he could not forget the things he wanted to forget. The faces of the men under his command as they realized that they weren’t going home alive, the faces of the men’s families when they heard of the fate of their loved ones, and the words that the family said to him after they heard the news.

_“I hope every day that you live, you remember all the lives that you had taken away.”_

Jack knew that the woman that said it to him was grieving for her lost husband, and he didn’t blame her for pushing blame onto him. He blamed himself too. He prioritized the mission above the lives of the men under his command. Just because he had no one waiting for him at home, didn’t mean that the other men didn’t have someone. He should have died. If he could do something to bring those men back, he would. Jack deserved the guilt he was feeling right now. 

_“I hope you die a painful death, like my son did.”_

He wanted to die, too. But he felt that if he died at his own hands, it would be cheating the other men who died a much more painful death. It wasn’t like Jack didn’t have scars of his own. He didn’t come out of the war unscathed, but he did come out with his life. He was left with a nasty scar down his face and the painful memories of what happened. When Jack looks in the mirror and sees the scar, he is brought back to that fateful day. 

Jack knew that just drinking all the time would not get rid of his pain, but it made him so numb that he did not care. He wanted to be able to close his eyes and not see the mangled body of his men. He didn’t want to see their eyes staring back at him in his dreams. He wanted the screaming and the explosion to stop ringing in his ears. He was lost in his thoughts, his eyes were glossed over and his face was red. His body felt so warm, the most he’s been able to feel this week. 

He felt a hand touch his shoulder. Before he knew it, he was standing over a scared woman. Her arm was twisted behind her back, held there by Jack’s hands. The music had stopped and everyone in the club was watching him. Some people were whispering to each other, some people were taking pictures on their phone, and in his peripherals, he saw that some bouncers were approaching him. He knew that they were all watching in curiosity, but he felt like they were looking at him in shame. Like they knew what happened in the field, the day that his squad had been wiped. He felt like he could hear all their thoughts. Their faces distorting into a dizzying mess. His world was spinning.

_You should have been the one that died._   
_You could have saved those men._

Jack needed to get out of there. He needed to run. The bouncers were closing in on him quick. He let go of the woman’s arm, and tried to make his way to the door. The crowd was in his way, barely able to make it out of his way as he tried to move past them. He felt dizzy, the alcohol mixed with his panic made it more difficult for him to run. His feet felt like lead, he had to put extra effort in keeping his balance as he opened the door. The cold air from outside felt amazing as it rushed past his burning skin. Jack finally felt like he could breathe again, the air inside the club felt like it was choking him. Not that the air outside was any better. It was damp from the rain, but it was more welcome than the gross, stuffy air of the club.

He found a bench in a nearby park and sat himself on it. He needed a place to sit down to stop the dizziness. He closed his eyes and held his head as he leaned his elbows onto his knees, the pain from the bar fight was starting to set in and he felt the beginnings of a hangover. He groaned, his entire body ached. He wasn’t a young man anymore. He hasn’t been young for a while… His squad used to always laugh at him when he would say that.

Come on, man! You’re only in your thirties, relax!

Jack could feel himself falling asleep on the bench. He would flicker his eyes open when they closed, but he couldn’t fight the heaviness his eyelids felt. He got up from the old, uncomfortable park bench. He knew his body would yell at him even more if he slept there. He had stood up too quickly, the dizziness from being drunk had rushed back. He couldn’t catch himself as he started to fall to the ground, knocking himself out cold.

“-ack. Jack! Wake up, you can’t sleep here.”  
Jack groaned as we got up from the hard ground. He looked up at the person who was calling for him to wake up. It was Gabriel Reyes, his best friend. They had met when Jack had first joined the army. Gabriel had been there for a few years longer than he did. They had hit it off immediately, becoming close friends after just a few weeks of knowing each other. They ended up in the same squad and they stayed together in the same squad for a long time. 

Jack had ended up getting a promotion before Gabriel. It had surprised the both of them and Jack didn’t agree with their higher-ups decision to promote him to squad leader instead of Gabriel. Gabriel played it off like he didn’t care though, he had been the first person to congratulate Jack. He even encouraged him when Jack was struggling. Jack wouldn’t be the person he was today without his best friend. 

“Are you just going to lay there or are you gonna wake up, _Squad Leader_. Come on, it’s time to do your job, it’s an important day today,” Gabriel chuckled at Jack and extended a hand to him, offering his assistance.

Jack smiled at Gabriel and took his hand. Gabriel grunted as he lifted Jack up off the ground, “Man, you’re heavy. You really are an old man, needing help to get up.”

Jack snorted, “Shut up, I’m thirty-six.”

They continued to joke around with each other as Jack got ready for the day. They had a big mission to do. It was a covert-op, his entire squad had been preparing for this day for weeks. They did recon missions, mapped out the area, and planned almost every second of the plan. It was supposed to be simple-- go in and get the bad guys. Everyone on the squad had felt so confident that they could get through this mission with no trouble at all.

Jack and his squad were suited up, ready to go. The entire ride to the drop off point was light-hearted, all the guys were joking around with each other. Jack even joined in on the jokes, he knew that this was what they did before a mission to calm their nerves. They were confident in the mission, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t always feel nervous or a little scared. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face the person that wanted his attention.

“What’s on your mind, Reyes?”

Gabriel just smiled at Jack and softly spoke, “This is my last tour, Morrison. I just wanted to let you know.”

Jack was shocked, Gabriel loved what he was doing. He was the type of man that wanted to make a huge difference in the world and protect his country. Jack never thought Gabriel would ever want to retire. He turned his entire body to face Gabriel with a shocked look on his face.

“What? You love it here though, I thought you were working towards being a higher rank than me?”

Gabriel laughed, “Yes, I wanted to do that so I can rub it in your face that I’m your higher up, instead of the other way around. I never thought I would ever say those words either, but I’ve been thinking and I really wanted to settle down. Have a wife and kids, y’know?”

Jack took a moment to process this information. Gabriel did always want to be a family man, but he was practically married to the job. It was one or the other, but it seems that he has made his decision. He did have a good run, and he wasn’t getting any younger. 

“That’s good, man! You’ll finally have what you always wanted. You need to get out there soon before your looks expire. You’re getting pretty close to it.”

Gabriel punched Jack in the shoulder as they both broke into laughter from Jack’s insult. Jack was going to miss this, he was going to miss having his best friend around to joke with, but Gabriel had to do what he had to do. Jack respected him for it, he wished he was brave enough to retire and go out in the real world, but he felt that he was not cut out for it after being here for so long.

Jack took a moment to compose himself, “So, why are you telling me this now? You couldn’t wait until after this mission? I feel like I should watch after you even more now.”

“That was the point. I don’t want to stress you out too much, but I want to be able to leave this mission in one piece. You’re my best friend, who better to watch my back? I also want you to make sure that you’re alive in one piece, too. So that you can be my best man when the occasion rises. Can you promise me that?”

“Of course, man.” Jack felt elated that Gabriel already wanted him to be his best man. He did feel a lot of pressure now. He wanted to be sure that Gabriel retired, he wanted his best friend to have the life he had always wanted. He wanted all the men in his squad to have a good life. He knew a lot of them were here because they wanted to financial aid for college after their duties were done. A few of them already had families and wanted to fight for them. He couldn’t let any of these men down...

At the drop zone, everyone had become serious. They went back over the plan to be sure that everyone knew what they had to do. This was going to be a sitch. Jack felt confident that this mission would be a success. He gave them a small speech to get them motivated, he wanted his men to be as confident as him about this mission. He could not afford failure, not after what Gabriel had told him.

It was silent as they separated into their groups and deployed, Gabriel was in his group. He made sure to keep Gabriel behind him, just in case. They moved stealthily through the field, making their way to the base hidden in the forest. All they could see were trees and their own shadows as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. The only sounds they could hear were a few animals calling into the night and their own footsteps. His eyes were alert, scanning over every surface as they moved. 

When he made it to their first stop point, he pulled out his communicator and let the other group know that he was there. He waited for them to respond back about their status, so that he could move on to the next one. The other group was behind schedule. Which was fine, they figured this could happen while they were separated. They could easily catch up. Jack waited a few minutes, before signalling for his men to move to the next point. The others knew what they were doing and would adjust their pace. As he took a step forward, he heard a loud explosion ring through the forest.

_The explosion came from the direction of the other group._

Jack looked back at his men, eyes wide. All the other men looked just as shocked as he was. He pulled out his communicator again to try to reach them, he wanted them to say that they were fine and that the explosion wasn’t close to their location at all. No answer, only static. He kept trying to reach them. Nothing. 

Gabriel came up to him and took away his communicator, shaking his head. There was grief in his eyes, mirroring Jack’s as they looked at each other. He looked at his squad, they were waiting on him to make the next decision. The next decision would determine whether they would live or die. He could feel the tension in the air, but he didn’t care. No man left behind.

“We can’t do this mission without them. There is no way we can go in there without them as back up.”

Jack wasn’t thinking about the mission at this point, he was concerned for his men. He had to go make sure. Maybe their communicators were broken or maybe the signal just wasn’t going through. He started to make his way towards the direction of the explosion. The other squads men tried to stop him and tell him that they have to make their way back. 

“You know that there can’t just be one explosive out there. You know how they think, we could be right next to one right now. We have to go.”

Jack heard the resounding agreement of all the men after someone had made that statement. It seemed that their mission was compromised and that they should leave before something happened to them too. The needs of the many. They kept trying to stop him, but he kept going. His stubbornness poking through. None of the men followed, they just watched his back as it went further and further into the darkness. 

He had only made it a few yards out before he heard a yell. Jack turned around to look at it, only to be blinded by a flash of light. His ears rang when he heard the deafening boom. He barely got his arms up in time before feeling shrapnel graze his face and throw him into the nearest tree. It took moments for him to compose himself after the explosion and get up to run to the area. He started to call out their names, hoping to get a response. He couldn’t stop coughing from the smoke, squinting through it all to try to catch movement. Nothing.

Jack had to choke back a sob every time he saw the face of one of his men. Some were burned beyond recognition, but their dog tags were all tucked away safely. He made sure to remove them from their bodies to give to the families. There was a body furthest away from the scene of the explosion. As he made his way to it, he almost vomited. It was Gabriel. He ran up to it and kneeled down, shaking him.

“Gabriel, Gabriel! Wake up, dammit! We have to go, we have to go now before someone come here to finish us off.”

He kept desperately trying to get Gabriel up, he felt tears roll down his face. His best friend was officially dead or at least that was what he told himself. He broke his promise. He should have known better, he should have turned around with them all and left. He heard footsteps approaching his area and quickly pulled off Gabriel’s dog tag. 

He needed to go before they captured him. He needed to be the one’s that told the families’ about his mistake. He needed to return these dog tags to them. He ran. When he got back to their base, he passed out, tears rolling down his face. He left his men behind. 

He felt a foot kicking his side. Gabriel?

“-ir. Sir! You can’t sleep here. This is a public park. Go home.”

He looked up at the man kicking him, the sun was in his eyes, making him squint. It was a police officer. He sighed, another day for him to suffer through. His head hurt from a hangover and the sun wasn’t helping, neither was the officer kicking him and speaking loudly. He got up and wiped his face, it was wet. He was crying in his sleep. Time to find a bar that’s open.


	3. Chapter 2

“Cheers!”

The sound of the clinking glass was a sound that had become familiar to Natalie. She sat around The Dal, bored out of her mind, and observing the other patrons at the Irish-themed bar. She spent a lot of time at this bar, she didn’t really like to go out and socialize with other fae, and making friends with any humans always ended in heartbreak for her. She felt bad for the people who were at this bar to celebrate, from what she could see from her peripheral vision was that some group of girls were celebrating a birthday. She rolled her eyes when she saw a girl fall into the hands of a member of the fae folk. She felt sorry for the poor soul, she too had been in a situation like that. The girl was lucky though, she would go about her life as a human, but Nat was stuck in her own eternal hell. 

She lightly ran her fingers along the bangle that was around her wrist. The simple little thing was supposed to make her life amazing, she was supposed to go on adventures because of it, but instead she quickly found that the fun and enjoyment didn’t last long. She was able to explore a whole new world that wasn’t available to her before, but she didn’t realize the consequences. She had witnessed many things after her adventures, she witnessed her parents and friends die of old age as she stayed young as ever. Nat quickly learned that her existence was a lonely one.

Sure, she could have made friends with other fae, but that quickly got boring and she was honestly sick of playing with humans. At first, it just seemed like a harmless prank, just a little fun, but eventually they escalate. They escalated so far, that Nat just had to quit joining in on their “games.” Especially after the suffering that she saw that the fae caused in those that they have messed with. It never stopped either, it just seemed to be a cycle. One downside to becoming fae, is that although you’re immortal and can take on some new abilities, you’re still stuck with your conscious, your moral compass. After so long of being fae, you either go insane or you feel nothing but guilt and remorse. Natalie felt a lot of the second one. That, or brooding over how she could one day get her revenge.

You’d think that she could take off the bangle and become human again, live her life the way her parents intended, but it wasn’t that simple. Amelie, the one who turned her, was quick to just ditch her. Apparently messing with people’s humanity was just a game to her. Nat wasn’t the only victim to her cruel actions, she had heard somewhere that Amelie used to be sweet, that she just minded her own business, but something had happened to make her hate humans. Rather than just taking their lives, Amelie decided that she’d rather that they suffer with the consequences of becoming fae.

Sometimes Nat thought about Amelie, how nice she was to her when they had first met and how quickly they had become friends. She shakes her head now that she thinks about how stupid she was to give up her humanity so quickly in exchange for a little more excitement in her life. Why couldn’t she have just travelled like everyone else? Nat wondered how different her life would be if she didn’t make the deal, if she hadn’t even met Amelie in the first place. She may have been bored of her life at the time that she made the deal...but maybe that was just a phase. Maybe she could have settled down, had a child or a dog, something. Anything that wasn’t this hell she was going through.

She thought about how ignorant she was on the supernatural world and she missed it. She missed how she used to be about things that were supernatural. She would always dismiss it and say that it was just a fairy tale. If you looked up skeptic in the dictionary, you would find a picture of her right there. Plus, her parents had raised her to stay as far away from the supernatural as she possibly could. She remembered when her friends had brought out a Ouija board and she noped herself all the way home, thinking about how her parents would react if they found out about it.

One rule that she must follow is that when a member of the gentry had their eye on someone, you were not allowed to interfere with their victim. She could see a victim now, he was sitting at the bar with that seeing stone that Jesse had given him. She felt bad for the poor kid, Jesse had been messing with him for awhile. He had shown the kid how pretty all the glamours were before showing him what was really underneath. Some fae weren’t hideous, especially the light fae, which Nat felt lucky to be apart of. The ones that Jesse had shown the kid...they were nightmare inducing. He got the kid to believe in the monsters under his bed again. She could see his shoulders shaking from her seat.

The man next to the kid got her attention though, he looked deeply troubled. Military-type, judging by his haircut and dog tags. He looked wary of the kid, for good reason too. Of all the people in the bar, fae or otherwise, he was acting the most suspicious. Nat watched with interest as the two interacted, only to see Jesse come into the bar and take the kid away, not without resistance. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Dyson, a wolf shifter that worked for the Light Fae, staring down the kid to intimidate him. Dyson only served to put the kid more on edge and resist even more, not that it helped much, Jesse was much stronger than the kid. She could only imagine where he was taking the kid and for what, but it was none of her business. 

That’s when she saw something pique her attention. That seeing stone that Jesse had given the kid, to open his eyes to the horrors that walk the streets, had fallen to the floor next to Soldier Boy. As he picked it up and went looking for the kid, Nat’s curiosity came out. She wanted to see how this would pan out. Dyson also had his eyes on the man and was approaching the door to stop the man. She didn’t know what came over her, but she stepped in front of Dyson, stopping him.

“What are you doing, Nat? I need to stop him or else our secret will be revealed.” He growled at her, puffing up to try to intimidate her out of the way. His one job was to be sure that their kind wasn’t revealed to the rest of the world, he could still remember when they were nearly destroyed by humans who were tired of living in fear of the Gentry. Aside from the people that were chosen by fae, nobody else was supposed to know about them.

“You don’t scare me, fleabag. He’s mine, so back off. You remember the rule, don’t you?” Nat challenged him. Maybe this was her chance to get revenge on Amelie. She knew that any normal human wouldn’t be able to do much to Amelie, but maybe he could do something. The second the man stepped in the bar, she looked in his eyes and she saw something in him. She saw the suffering and guilt, she could see the desperation in his eyes, and now she could see her opportunity. Not to mention that at least he was physically in a better position than half the patrons of this bar, hello military training, and he happened to be the one who found the stone. Soon, he would see the horrors that the kid saw after he received the stone.

Dyson’s eyes flashed in anger. He huffed, “Fine, I’ll back off. It’s not like you to mess with a human. I thought that you didn’t do that shit anymore?”

Nat chuckled, “Maybe I’ve had a change of heart. If I’m going to live forever, I might as well have fun, right?”

She felt bad saying that, she really didn’t want to stoop down to the other fae’s levels for entertainment. But after seeing the stars align, she wasn’t going to let this pass. She could feel Dyson’s gaze on her linger, evaluating her words. He didn’t like them, but who was he to break a rule. He huffed and stepped away, walking back towards his friends, who were all staring at the encounter the two just had. The quiet whispers that they shared were quickly stopped as soon as Dyson made it to them. Nat could hear them asking what happened from the door.

Nat smirked as she walked out the door, shedding her glamour so that no one saw her. Her glamour wasn’t anything fancy, she tended to switch her looks often in it. She didn’t want to reveal herself just yet, but she did have to follow him to make sure that he didn’t get in too much trouble now that he had access to a whole other world. She trailed behind him, waiting for the moment that he put the stone up to his eye. When he finally did, she saw some people intercept him before she could. Well...this could throw off her plans...or maybe, _this could just work._

\-----

Another day, another bar. At least this one wasn’t as terrible as the club Jack found himself in yesterday, before he ran out of there in a drunken frenzy. He probably wasn’t allowed back there again. Not that he wanted to go back there again, it was gross and too crowded. He felt bad for what he did to the woman yesterday too. She didn’t have any ill intentions...at least, he didn’t think? Oh well, just another thing for him to feel guilty about. Just add it onto the pile.

As he took another swig of his drink, he noticed the person next to him was fidgeting like crazy. Jack sighed and turned to the guy. He looked too young to be there, maybe about 19, his skin was pale and he was sweating like crazy. He was shaking as his brown eyes scanned the room. Sometimes his gaze would stop on an area of the room and he would take in a breath to hold back a gasp. Definitely suspicious.

“Hey kid, are you okay?”

The kid’s gaze snapped to Jack at the sound of his gruff voice, before pushing his mid-length brown hair out of his eyes. He slowly nodded to Jack and attempted to say something back, but all that came out was a pathetic whimper. What was up with this kid? Jack quirked an eyebrow and ask if the kid if he was sure. That was when he noticed that the kid’s hand was clenched around something. He seemed to be guarding it and when he noticed that Jack was looking at it, he pulled his grip tighter than it somehow was earlier. 

“Look kid, I’m not interested in whatever is in your hand or your problems. I was just asking if you were okay. I’ll leave you alone now. Good luck on….whatever you were doing.”

Jack turned forward in his seat and went back to nursing his drink. He wondered what he was going to do when his savings ran dry. He didn’t know if he could go back….was he even allowed back? The past month has been such a blur to him, he really only remembered the funerals, the friends and families of all the men who had died, and all the things they had said to him. He felt a presence behind him and the kid.

“Hey, kid, aren’t ya’ a little young to be here?”

Oh. It was probably someone kicking the kid out. The kid stiffened at the sound of the voice and ignored it, facing forward with his fists still clenched. Come on, kid. Just do as the man says, don’t cause trouble. Jack kept to himself, letting the situation go unnoticed. He did not want another situation like last night happening again, he really did not want attention put on him again. The kid continued to ignore the man behind him and continued fidgeting, before the man got fed up.

“Alright, if you wanna be like this, then we’re gonna hafta do this the hard way.”

Jack rolled his eyes at the man’s accent. Gonna just “wrastle” the kid out of here? It’s ridiculous for people to have Southern accents around here. It’s Indiana, for God’s sake. The man started to grab the kid to throw him out of the bar. Jack turned his head slightly to see what was going on. He had to hold back a snort, this man was dressed as a cowboy. He had the hat and boots, even wore an oversized scarf around his shoulders. As soon as the cowboy’s hands grabbed the kid’s arms, the kid let go out whatever he was holding and moved to grab onto the bar, holding on for his life. Something seemed to make the kid even more panicked and fight harder to stay at his place at the bar. Despite the kid’s efforts, the man with the Southern accent managed to pry him off the counter and out of the bar.

Out of the corner of Jack’s eyes, he saw the thing the kid was holding onto on the floor. He felt himself get curious as to what he was guarding so carefully. He groaned as he picked it up off the floor. It was...a rock? It looked like a rock you could pick up anywhere, the only thing special about it was the hole that was in the middle of it. The white stone was flat and smooth in his hands as he turned it around to examine it more. Yup. It was a rock. Jack sighed, maybe it calmed the kid down?

He felt kind of bad if it really was to help the kid with anxiety or something. Maybe it was time he got some fresh air, he had been breathing in the stale air of the bar for awhile now. Several hours probably. Jack walked outside, looking both ways to try to find the kid. Neither the kid nor the cowboy were anywhere to be seen. He glanced over the stone in his hand again. I guess this isn’t as important to the kid as I thought it was.

Noticing the sun coming up, Jack turned left to start making his way home, stone still in hand. He held up the hole of the stone to his eye, still trying to see what was so special about this stone. There had to be some reason why the kid was oddly protective of it before disappearing. As he looked through the stone, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That was, until someone walked into his line of sight. The thing that walked passed his line of sight was in no way human, it looked like a monster right out of his nightmares. 

Its body was mostly human, but not really. It was human in the fact that it had two legs and two arms, as well as a head. Aside from that, it was obvious not human. Its arms were distended as it hung by its side, the weight of its arms caused it to slouch. Even slouched the creature was pretty damn tall. It was taller than Jack and that was pretty amazing, considering that Jack towered over most people at 6’1’’. The skin looked like it was flaking off its body, if you touched it, the skin probably would have fallen off. Jack regret moving the stone to look up at its face, the only thing on it was eyes. No mouth, no nose, no hair. It was just eyes around a misshapen head.

As it got closer, Jack had to put down the stone and cover his nose and mouth. It smelled of death and it made him want to puke. He doubled over against a wall, looking up at the creature. It looked...normal. Like a regular person. What happened to the creature from before? As he was about to lift the stone to his eye again to double check, he felt two sets of arms wrapping around his, guiding him forward.

“You’ve had a little bit to drink, huh? Let’s get you out of here before you pass out and make an ass of yourself.”

The low, throaty voice came from the shorter person on the left. As they were dragging him away from the bar into the park, they were whispering to each other. The voice on the right was more quiet and soft, it was a little obvious that she wasn’t from here from her slight, raspy accent. Is that a Russian accent? What’s with all the foreigners around here? We rarely get any, if at all. Jack quietly laughed to himself, maybe this wasn’t really happening at all. It was all just a weird dream and he’ll wake up any moment and these women would be gone. He’d just get up from wherever he fell asleep and find another place to drown his sorrows in liquor.

He laughed aloud when he saw they were dragging him to the bench that he fell asleep on a few days ago. He grunted as they tossed him onto the bench. “You could be more gentle with me, you know?” Jack looked up at the people who whisked him away, finally getting a good look at the two women. 

The woman on the left, the first one that spoke to him, was a small, unassuming woman with odd-colored hair. Her eyes were a warm shade of brown, the same shade as her skin. The other woman with the slight Russian accent was taller, way taller. She could probably match his height. She was fairly muscular with gray hair and hazel eyes, one of which looked to be permanently closed. Despite all these features, both women seemed to be easily overlooked as if they don’t stand out somehow.

Jack raised an eyebrow at the two, “Can I help you, girls? I don’t understand why you dragged me off like that. If you’re trying to help an old, drunk man, well, I don’t need it.”

The two women exchanged a glance at each other before the smaller one smacked him in the back of the head, “Are you crazy? We saved your life.”

“Saved me? There was nothing I needed saving from, there was no danger around me.”

“No danger? You were staring at one of the fae though a seeing stone, what if it noticed?” This time it was the taller one that spoke.

“Fae? You mean...like a fairy? Tinkerbell?”

Jack laughed. Wow these two were crazy, but that didn’t explain how they knew he was staring at something weird through the seeing stone? He looked at the stone in his hands and started turning it around in his hands again. So that’s what this is. It still sounded like childish bullshit to him though. This had to be a toy, there had to be some secret that made everyone look like freaks? He put it up to his eyes again and looked at the two women through it. Nothing? They still looked like themselves. Maybe it’s broken.

“You’re probably thinking it’s broken. It’s not. It can only show you a faery’s true form. Which we are not.” 

He was starting to think that they just took turns talking or something. Faery’s true form. They had to have been messing with him. This was all some elaborate prank that they got that kid, cowboy, and thing/person involved in. Jack can feel a headache forming in the back of his head, he needed a drink. 

“We’re not here to mess with you, we were saving your life. If it noticed that you saw it through that stone, it would have gouged your eyes out, if it was feeling nice.”

His head snapped up, glaring at the tall woman, “Look, either you girls are messing with me or you’re crazy. Pick one.”

Both of the women glared at Jack before shooting a look to each other, mentally asking if it’s worth it to help him. The taller woman sighed and took a seat next to him, motioning for her friend with the odd-colored hair to sit on the other side. She was a little stubborn at first, but then complied, plopping down next to him.

She was the first to speak, “My name is Moira. Moira Cruz.”

“And mine is Lyudmila Dontsova. I get that it’s hard to accept all this and we had a hard time at first too, but you’re going to have to trust us on this one. It could be life or death for you.”

Jack took a moment to himself to process the information. They seemed really serious about this. It’s not like he had much else going on in his life. Nothing to look forward to or do, besides drink, so….why not? He had nothing to lose by going along with this. Maybe it would save his liver. He chortled at the thought, his liver was long gone.

“Alright, I’ll bite. Tell me more about these…’fairies.’”

Moira smacked him in the back of the head, “This isn’t a game. The fairies you see on TV are way different than the ones in real life. The fae are nothing to mess with. What were you doing looking through that stone anyway? Looking for one so that it will grant you a wish?”

He stared at Moira, they could grant wishes? Moira could see the surprise in his eyes, and she sighed, rubbing the space between her eyebrows. He could almost hear her think, ‘oh my god, this guy is an idiot.’ Before he could even ask about the wish thing, she put her hand up, hushing him.

“Yes, they can grant wishes. That’s why a lot of people go looking for them sometimes, but they don’t realize that it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

As Moira continued to explain the wish thing, Jack zoned out. They grant wishes. He could bring back his men. If he wasn’t go grief-stricken, he knew that this was a stupid idea, but this could be his redemption. He could bring them all back, he could keep his promise.

_He could bring back his best friend._


End file.
